Like A Diamond In The Sky
by Feagalad
Summary: "The pearls of the universe, cherry-picked and arranged for her pleasure; all of the gold and none of the dross…stardust and moonbeams and happily ever afters, paraded before her mind's eye like a fairytale of wonder and imagination..." The Doctor takes the time to return to Reinette one last time before her death.


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**Disclaimer: **_No. I don't own it. Seriously...are you mad?!_

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_"…__Godspeed, my lonely angel."_

The candles burned low, casting the room into soft, twilight haze as the woman signed the letter with frail hands and pressed the seal into the molten wax. She was not long for this world, already she could feel the dark spectre of death hovering over her bed – filling her lungs with the musty pull of the grave.

She looked to the window where the heavy, velvet curtains were parted just enough to let a sliver of the deep, dark expanse of sky to peep through and give her a glimpse of the spangled diamond stars as they danced their courses to mark the seasons. She had wanted to see those stars once. Together with her angel on a white steed she would dance amongst the cosmos – floating immortal amidst the stardust of the gods, like Andromeda and Perseus of old.

But that dream was not to be. Years had passed since that magical night of terror and beauty they had had together…the last time she had seen her guardian, the angel of her youth, before he vanished from time altogether. Her mother would say that it was because she was growing up, because she was at last putting away the fantasies of childhood and becoming a woman. But The Doctor, her lonely, beautiful angel from another realm was no figment of her imagination. She could not have conjured up those gentle hands that she had seen ignite the fires that burned just beneath the liquid surfaces of his fathomless eyes. And if, by some strange chance, she could have imaged it all – no longer could doubt plague her steps. All of Versailles had seen him the night that he had saved her from the devilish clockwork men.

Reinette coughed weakly into the handkerchief, dots of red staining the snow-white cloth with their crimson reminder of her impending death. Mortality was the one cage her bird-like spirit could never escape. From the confines of this plane her mind could run free, dancing among the stars, but Death – the old, patient watcher – waited for her return with gaping arms. Perhaps, as she slept, she could dream that her angel would be waiting for her on the other side.

In the shadows of the room, half hidden behind a grand tapestry, a thin fox of a man swallowed and smoothed back his mop of hair nervously. His companion, a curvaceous redhead, poked him in the back and hissed into his ear. "Get a move on it, you ridiculous Martian! This may be your last chance to make things right with that poor girl you left hanging…don't blow it!"

"I don't know if this is a good idea, Donna. What if my being here throws the entire timeline into chaos?" She gave him a look that was just visible enough in the dim candlelight to make him gulp. "Right, sorry. I'll just…do something."

Donna snorted, not unkindly. "Yeah. You do that, Spaceman. I'll be waiting in the TARDIS for you. Don't stay up too late." She patted him on the back and slipped silently from the room.

He walked over to the bed and sat down, gently taking one of Reinette's thin hands in his own. "Madame de Pompadour?"

Even through her fever, she looked like an angel with her golden hair spread out across the pillow like a halo of glory. Not even the wasting demon of Consumption could leach all of the beauty from her form as Reinette's eyes fluttered open and fixed on him, filling with something like wonder.

"Doctor?" Reinette whispered, voice faint and husky. "Is this a dream?"

"No. This is no dream."

She smiled; showing a ghost of the radiance her countenance had once glowed with. "Have you come to take me away, then?"

"Yes. But not for the long journey." Gently, the Time Lord reached out and placed his hands on her sweat-soaked temples. "Reinette, do you remember what you told me about a door once opened?"

"Yes. However could I forget seeing so much love and pain held inside such a fragile but strong vessel?"

"The close your eyes, Reinette, and keep your mind wide open. I have one last gift for you. Something to ease the passage of your soul."

Trusting eyes locked on his as the woman smiled. "I knew you'd come back."

Reinette let her eyes drift closed as The Doctor filled her mind with visions of the stars. Only the best for Reinette Poisson…memories collected over a lifetime of travel. The pearls of the universe, cherry-picked and arranged for her pleasure; all of the gold and none of the dross…stardust and moonbeams and happily ever afters, paraded before her mind's eye like a fairytale of wonder and imagination. A glimpse into the shades of paradise, one last journey before the end.


End file.
